Deeplinks Blog posts about Patents

Earlier this year, together with Durie Tangri, EFF stepped in to defend a photo hobbyist facing a patent suit. The patent owner, Garfum.com Corporation, claimed to have invented competitions on social networks where users vote for the winner. Garfum recently abandoned its lawsuit. Yesterday, we filed a motion asking the court to declare the case ‘exceptional’ and award our client attorneys’ fees.

It has now been just over a year since the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Alice v. CLS Bank. Since then, over 100 cases have looked at whether granted patents meet the standards set in Alice. The result has been overwhelmingly on the side of finding patents invalid. Alice has become a crucial tool for those fighting against overbroad patents on abstract ideas.

EFF, along with Public Knowledge, filed an amicus brief on Friday asking the Federal Circuit to apply Alice in the latest in a slew of cases on appeal after a district court invalidated a patent.

Printers aren’t all that expensive. Ink for the printers, on the other hand, can cost more than fine Champagne and tends to be far less delicious. Lexmark, in yet another attempt in a long line of schemes, is trying to use patent law to make sure it stays that way.

In a case called Lexmark v. Impression Products, Lexmark is trying to use patent law to prevent customers from lawfully getting cheaper ink. Lexmark argues that by slapping a “notice” on the side of a patented ink cartridge, they can limit consumers to using the cartridges only once under the threat of patent infringement.

Today, in Williamson v. Citrix, the Federal Circuit overruled its ill-advised case law that has been one of the primary drivers of overbroad software patents. The court finally recognized that patent applicants cannot bypass certain limits on patent rights solely by avoiding magic words. EFF filed an amicus brief urging the court to do just that.

Imagine the Wright brothers, after they invented their airplane, filed for a patent claiming “a machine for flying.” Essentially claiming a machine for what it does rather than how it does it. This is known as “functional claiming.”

One of the best weapons a patent troll has in extorting an undeserved settlement is the cost of litigation. If a defendant knows that a case will drag on for several months, or even years, and will require her to spend significant resources to prevail, she is more likely to give in to pressure from a patent troll.

Recently, the Eastern District of Texas made that weapon even sharper.